TaDi Snap Shots

Thursday, November 27, 2014

A Walk in the Cloud -- A closer look at WD's My Cloud

We all have stories to tell, just as we also have lots of photos and videos we love to show off, and that is why everyone’s been busy hitting the share button on social media.

But the photos/videos we share are just a percentage of the total content we create every day. The rest we store in portable storage devices that we eventually transfer to our hard disks at home—or upload it on the Cloud.

Yep. the Cloud--where everyone can access all the files they’ve uploaded from anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, its hard to say how safe it really is-- as just the like real clouds in the sky your files are out there in the hands of some tech guy managing the servers. Not to mention the high monthly fees you need to pay if you want more space.

WD’s new My Cloud addresses both of these issues by being more reasonably priced and by storing all your data on your own “personal cloud,” also known as a network attached drive or NAS.

Using the My Cloud drive, users can share files, stream media and access content anywhere with no monthly fees and feel secure in the knowledge that their cloud resides in their own home under their exclusive control.

According to estimates from Research firm Gartner, the average household will own approximately 3.3 terabytes (TB) of digital content by 2016. This growth of digital content is has been associated to the explosive growth of Internet-connected devices, with the current U.S. household owning 5.7 connected devices, according to The NPD Group.

With families now connecting, sharing, syncing, and backing-up numerous mobile devices and computers in their household, the amount of digital data being created on these devices are growing dramatically. The Personal cloud provides an ideal solution to simplify the complex issue of organizing digital files across various devices so that users can enjoy their digital videos, photos and music on all of their devices.

“We believe that there’s no place like home for the cloud,” said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD's branded products and consumer electronics groups. “Everyone is inundated with thousands of digital files scattered across multiple computers and mobile devices, and controlling that chaos is a challenge. WD’s personal cloud is the easiest, most secure and most affordable way for customers to control that chaos, with access to all of their files anywhere, anytime.”

Sleek look, simple setup, useful apps

Just as its very simple look, users can get their personal cloud up and running in minutes with WD’s rich web-based user interface for seamless web-guided setup. WD's software auto-detects the drive to make setup simple for novice users.

Once the My Cloud drive is setup, customers can easily connect their computers and mobile devices with WD's free desktop and mobile apps.

Powered by a Dual-Core processor and a gigabit Ethernet connection transferring files is blazing fast, allowing customers to quickly centralize all of the digital content scattered across various devices onto My Cloud. With direct file uploads from mobile devices, important files and videos can be safely moved to My Cloud, freeing up valuable space on users’ tablets and smartphones.

Customers can also use their My Cloud to back up their computers and digital files. For PC users, WD SmartWare Pro software offers options for how, when and where to back up files. Mac users can utilize all the features of Apple Time Machine backup software to protect their data.

Complete Control and Accessibility

My Cloud users can store and organize their families’ photos, videos, music and important documents in one secure place on the home network. The My Cloud is available in 2TB, 3TB, and 4TB capacities, providing plenty of storage capacity without the monthly subscription fees. Need more storage? All you need to do is attach a compatible USB 3.0 hard drive directly to the USB expansion port to expand the My Cloud’s capacity.

You don’t even have to transfer your files through the PC first as the My Cloud lets you to upload directly from your iOS and Android devices. The WD My Cloud mobile app allows users to view photos, stream video and access their files from anywhere on their smartphones or tablets. The mobile app also makes file sharing and collaborating simple and secure, allowing customers to easily email files, share files as a link, and print and open files with third party apps.

MY CLOUD EX 2

For prosumers Western Digital also has the My Cloud EX2, a high-performance two-bay network attached storage (NAS) system. The My Cloud EX2 and My Cloud EX4 products are designed for creative professionals and prosumers that need to reliably save, share, back up, stream and manage large amounts of digital data.

The My Cloud EX2 provides several capacity options for customers to choose from, including a diskless enclosure allowing users to build their own NAS with the drives of their choice, as well as populated systems in 4TB, 6TB or 8TB capacities. Additionally, customers can attach compatible USB 3.0 hard drives to the USB expansion ports on the My Cloud EX2 to further expand their storage capacity.

The populated My Cloud EX2 features WD Red hard drives for ultimate reliability in the unique 24x7 NAS operating environment. WD Red drives are powered by NASware 2.0 technology, improving drive reliability and protecting customer data in the event of a power loss or disruption.

About the Author

foydi was madly in love with video documentary production when he made a lifetime commitment with corporate & marketing communications but now, he is having an affair with digital media. And with his current relationship, he can’t help but blogcast about heritage and pop culture, movies and other media, and attention catching things, settings, happenings and human beings.